Quezon City tax haul tops P15B

Quezon City made its biggest tax haul this year when its gross revenue collections breached the P15-billion mark.

At the rate of the city’s collection performance, a budget surplus of P15 million to P30 million may be posted by the end of the year, Edgar Villanueva, city treasurer, said.

He added that collections are expected to further increase once all payments come in. Expected year-end collectibles for the city include payments for the fourth quarter deadline for the payment of real-estate and amusement taxes.

The city treasurer’s office hopes to collect almost P100 million in additional tax payments before the end of 2014.

Based on the December 15 collection report submitted by the city treasurer’s office, business taxes, which serve as the city’s major income source, reached P6,630,498,833.36 or an increase of about P778,243,060.97 or 13.30 percent compared to the same period last year.

The city only needs to collect P143,029,726.64 to meet its business tax collection target of P6.773,528,560.00 for 2014.

From real estate, the city managed to collect about P1,566,015,418.93 in taxes as of December 15.

Aside from business taxes, the city also managed to post significant increases in other regulatory and miscellaneous fees.